Florida School Boards Association
‘Maintenance of effort’ a facet of law from start’ Ever since President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Elementary and Secondary Education Act into law in 1965, education funding advocates have relied on a highly technical provision they see as a safeguard for ensuring money earmarked for the nation’s most disadvantaged students is used as originally…
Florida’s school districts would face fundamental changes in the way they operate under a newly filed bill by a Pinellas County lawmaker. Sen. Jeff Brandes, R-St. Petersburg, has joined Rep. Matt Caldwell, R-Fort Myers, to propose a constitutional amendment ending the requirement that all counties have independent school districts. If approved, the measure would result…
ST. AUGUSTINE, Fla. – Nearly 61 percent of St. Johns County voters voted to boost the sales tax to 6.5 percent in order to raise additional revenue for public schools. Just before 9 p.m., the last of the county’s 46 precincts was counted. Of 35,051 ballots cast, the referendum passed by a margin of 7,577…
A majority of Florida’s school districts have no policy on the use of social media by teachers and other employees, increasing the potential for misuse and inappropriate teacher-student relationships online, according to an analysis conducted by a University of Florida educational leadership scholar. Doctoral candidate Jesse Gates found that only 32 of the state’s 68…
Webinar, Tuesday, November 3, 2015 3-4pm Learn about a grassroots coalition model and receive a communication tool-kit for local community partners to help citizens understand what’s happening with school grades during this time of transition to higher education standards for Florida’s schools. Presenters include individuals from the Jacksonville Public Education Fund, JAX Chamber, and the…
The advent of new Florida academic standards and tests has created an opportunity for the Department of Education to revise school grading rules at the same time it sets test cut scores. Some of the changes int the proposed rule are fairly significant. For the first time, a school’s grade would be based only on…
Frustrated with a variety of issues in public education, nearly 60 percent of the respondents to a Saint Leo University Polling Institute survey conducted nationally and in Florida say they are willing to “pay somewhat more in taxes to better fund public schools in my community.” In the national survey of 1,005 adults conducted between…
Attention members of Congress: You’ve come really far on reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act. Please finish the job so schools don’t have to live under the very outdated and pretty much universally despised No Child Left Behind Act (aka the current version of ESEA) for yet another school year. That’s the message…
TALLAHASSEE – An appeals court ruled today that state universities are allowed to ban students from having guns in their dorm rooms. The ruling comes at a critical time: The Republican-controlled Legislature is already considering bills that would allow concealed permit owners to bring their guns onto campus. In a lengthy ruling, The 1st District…
Since its inception in 2000, the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA)1—an international test of reading, math, and science—has shown that American 15-year-olds perform more poorly, on average, than 15-year-olds in many other developed countries. This finding is generally consistent with results from another international assessment of 8th graders, the Trends in International Mathematics and…